Yom Hashoah - A Day of Rememberance

Starting tonight we enter into Yom HaShoah, which serves as a day of remembrance for those that died in the Holocaust. For those who have never experienced Yom HaShoah in Israel, it is hard to conceptualize. Imagine a country where at 10:00 a.m., air-raid sirens are sounded for two minutes. When the sirens sound, all over the country, people stop what they are doing and stand at attention. Cars pull off the highway and people get out, standing at attention and observing a time of silence. The whole country comes to a standstill as people pay silent tribute to the Holocaust victims. I remember the first time I witnessed this in Israel. It was stunning to witness an entire country displaying such a strong sense of honor and patriotism.

In my travels today I find many people cringe away from discussing the Holocaust, finding its horrors too disturbing. There are even some who try to deny it even happened! Recently, I was asked why “the Jews” can’t just “let it go?” To this I reply that we must never allow what happened to fade into oblivion because if we forget … we will relive it. We must understand that it did happen and why so it will never be repeated. You must understand that the Holocaust survivors are beginning to die out. It is now up to our generation to make sure that what happened to them is not forgotten. We must understand that the last Holocaust targeted mainly the Jewish people, but, today we have an enemy who is threatening a “new Holocaust”, and the new “targets” will be not only Jewish, but you as well.

When I am in Israel I always take time to stop at the grave at Oscar Schindler and put my stone on his grave as my way of saying thank you and letting the people know that I have not forgotten what he did.